Mercy Fernandez, The Ritz-Carlton, DIFC Mercy Fernandez, The Ritz-Carlton, DIFC

Mercy Fernandez, The Ritz-Carlton, DIFC

About Mercy
Mercedita Fernandez (or Mercy) started her career as a Room Attendant in 1976 in the Manila Hotel, Philippines, where she began learning the importance of first-class service through various positions, including Telephone Coordinator, and further supervisory positions in the public areas, including the floors and linen room. Her first overseas appointment was in 1988 as Senior Housekeeping Supervisor in China at The Palace Hotel, where she was part of the pre-opening team. She then joined The Portman Shangri-La in Shanghai in the capacity of Assistant Executive Housekeeper in 1990, again playing a crucial role as part of the pre-opening team Mercy subsequently moved on to open two hotels in Vietnam, as Executive Housekeeper of The Equatorial in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and The Hanoi Daewoo Hotel, Hanoi. In these properties she proved her true flair for nurturing talent, by meticulously training her assistants, who subsequently went on to take over her position as leaders of the departments. Mercy has been integral to the renovation of three hotels, providing the scrupulous eye-for-detail required from an award-winning Housekeeper. The first was as she started her career with The Ritz-Carlton as Director of Housekeeping at The Portman Ritz-Carlton Shanghai Hotel in 1998 (a takeover from the Shangri-La), and a second at the Kempinski Hotel in Beijing in 2002, where she also helped cater to over 1,000 invitees for the hotel’s ten year anniversary. The third was as she returned to The Ritz-Carlton family in 2003, to embark on her first position in the Middle East, with The Ritz-Carlton Bahrain. Mercy oversaw the housekeeping for a complete renovation, including the opening of 23 new Villas, and the hotel later hosted the GCC summit, which saw Mercy overseeing the cleanliness of the rooms occupied by some the region’s most prolific VIPs. She joined The Ritz-Carlton, DIFC in 2010 as part of the pre-opening team, as Director of Housekeeping, and two years on, is an integral and well-respected member of the leadership team. During her time with the company, she has also shared her significant expertise with many Ritz-Carlton properties as part of the opening ‘Task Force’, including assignments in Qatar, Moscow, China and Egypt.

Above and beyond…
Mercy is the first to volunteer for ‘lateral’ service’ in the hotel, where ladies and gentlemen are required to help other departments if additional resource is required. The Ritz-Carlton has held two particularly large ladies weddings over the last year, requiring additional support from the hotel’s female staff. In May 2012, Mercy worked until 2am, despite her own shift starting early the same morning, replenishing a buffet set-up to ensure the wedding operations were seamless. In June 2012, a guest rented every F&B outlet in the hotel for a private event, and Mercy volunteered to become a surrogate member of the F&B team, helping with several aspects of the F&B operations. Mercy goes beyond the call of duty on a regular basis. Just last month the PR team were conducting a hotel photo-shoot and asked Mercy to find two blue cushions in the hotel for use in the shoot. Within 20 minutes, she had personally scouted the hotel with members of the Housekeeping team, and returned with over 15 cushions in different shades of blue and green, and in different shapes and sizes. She is dedicated to developing teamwork and working relationships, and is extraordinarily kind and caring by nature, considered fondly as a Mother figure by many of her team, who actually call her ‘Mum’, at the same time as establishing herself as a respected leader. She has organized several team picnics, even making all the food herself on one occasion for her team of over 40 ladies and gentlemen. The hotel’s recent employee survey is testament to Mercy’s credibility as a leader and her popularity as a member of the team, as she received one of the highest scores in the hotel in terms of her team’s job satisfaction.

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Testimonials:
Katrin Herz - Hotel Manager Mercy Fernandez is one of the most experienced Housekeepers within The Ritz-Carlton company. She has been with us for XXX years and has been part of our many successful openings, closures and renovations. Not only an expert within the Middle East market with her experience in Dubai, Bahrain and Cairo, she also possesses substantial knowledge of the Asian market, having worked in Shanghai and Beijing. Mercy is always the “Mother” of her large Housekeeping teams and has helped many individuals both professionally and personally. She personally connects with all of her team members and has the gift to motivate on a daily basis. Her philosophy is to promote from within and she has developed and trained several Ladies and Gentlemen, many of them Director of Housekeeping today, thanks to her training and dedication. I fully support Mercy’s nomination for best Housekeeper and could not think of a stronger Housekeeper I have ever worked with during my 14 years with The Ritz-Carlton.

Lothar Quarz, General Manager Mercy is one of the most outstanding professionals that I have had the pleasure to work with in my time in hospitality. She has vast experience and knowledge within her field, which when combined with great business sense, focus, organizational skills and above all, passion, make Mercy a truly exceptional Director of Housekeeping. Her professional ability is only underlined further by her infectious personality, her ability to inspire and motivate, and her infinite, genuine commitment to leading her team and helping others. A true role model, Mercy is an inspiration for everyone at The Ritz-Carlton, DIFC, and throughout the company.

Mosaad Mustafa, Assistant Housekeeping Manager I met Mercy at the RC Sharm ElSheikh, were she was send for taskforce and I immedialty noticed how professional she is. She helped me and the team a lot to get our department organized and to get the hotel to the needed levels of cleanliness. I was then given the opportunity to join her in Dubai, my first experience outside Egypt. I did not think twice to work with a professional like her. Every day I learn something from her. Her leadership style is amazing and it is truly an honour to work with her and learn from her.